Growing Up With the Trinity

Brendon McGuire

Description

Growing Up With the Trinity brings to life that unique period in 60s football when Manchester United had three European Players of the Year - Charlton, Best and Law - in their team. As the Manchester football scene blended with music and fashion, a young boy found inspiration watching these legends. As a child, Brendon McGuire was taken to Old Trafford by his mother, as his colourful, hard-drinking father had no interest in football. Seeing George Best make his debut, the Stretford End became a place of sanctuary while the music scene of 1960s Manchester provided the soundtrack for a road to be travelled. The awesome power of a Bobby Dazzler, the sight of the 17-year-old Best twisting a full-back's blood, and the raised-arm salute of Denis Law created an alluring magic. As The Beatles rocked one end of the East Lancs Road, Manchester responded with its own top bands and Northern Soul, forming an irreplaceable moment in time for Manchester United, a fast-changing city and one young boy.

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785315718
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2019
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Brendon McGuire, 2019
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-502-2 eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-571-8
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Contents
Foreword
Introduction
1. The North - Brilliant!
2. Decent Dependable Men
3. Manchester After Munich
4. The Scarlet Thread
5. Cup Final Day Shock
6. Joining the United Family
7. Manchester La, La, La
8. I See the Stretford End Arising
9. A Bit Special Our Bobby
10. Denis Law: King!
11. Manchester s Fifth Beatle
12. Time Passages
13. Playing Memories and Legacy
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my mother, Sheila, and to the memory of my father, Eddie
Foreword
I VIVIDLY remember the day I left school in south Manchester. It was a warm day in July 1968, and I didn t have a care in the world as I strolled to the bus stop to make the journey home. I was just 15 years old. It was only a few weeks since Manchester United had so gloriously won their first European Cup against the superstars of Portugal s Benfica, on a magical May night at Wembley Stadium. However, despite having failed to gain any formal academic qualifications, I had much to celebrate: I was about to sign as an apprentice professional for my hometown club having been spotted by Joe Armstrong (the legendary scout) playing for Stretford Boys. It was every schoolboy s dream! I proceeded to have a 16-year career in football before changing professions and becoming a social worker for the local authority (Manchester) in 1984. I returned to the club as a part-time coach in 1990, before being invited to become full-time in 1998 when the academies were established.
At the same time as I signed for the European Champions, a young Brendon McGuire, a 14-year-old schoolboy, was preparing for his final year at school in Chadderton, north Manchester, where he would sit his General Certificate of Education (GCE) exams in the summer of 1969. He would later sign for Rochdale (one of my former clubs) as an apprentice before pursuing a highly distinguished career in teaching and lecturing, combined with playing as a part-time pro for several north-west clubs. I first met Brendon in 1997 when I was studying for an MA in sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), and he was a senior lecturer in the PE Department. Although we followed different career pathways, there were three major features of our lives that bound us together: our Mancunian roots, a 60s childhood and an abiding love of everything to do with football, and the history, culture and tradition of Manchester United Football Club. Furthermore, we both share the honour and privilege of writing books on a particular aspect of the club s wonderful history - in my case the early years of the famous youth policy in the 50s. There s a delightful symmetry about all this, don t you think?
In this his first book, Brendon is telling the story that so many Manchester United supporters from the 60s have yearned to tell, because it s autobiographical, personal, reflective and deeply nostalgic. Undoubtedly, the 60s was a very special period in the history of the club when they won four major trophies within ten years of the Munich Disaster, demonstrating amazing spirit and resilience in recovering from the horrors of that tragedy in February 1958. The author eloquently articulates the thoughts and feelings of innumerable people when he revisits society in the 60s, and the effect that three magnificent footballers had on people around the world, let alone the city of Manchester. Set against the backdrop of the myriad of cultural influences impacting politics, music and fashion in that decade, Brendon reminds us just how electrifying this particular era was and the various personalities who dominated it, such as Matt Busby, The Beatles, Mary Quant and, not least, our three heroes Best, Law and Charlton. We are also reminded of the iconic landmarks of Manchester that meant so much to people (and still do) such as the Central Library, the Free Trade Hall, the Twisted Wheel and, dare I say, George Best Edwardia.
For many of us, childhood was an exceedingly sensitive, delicate and precious period of our lives and Brendon s was difficult at times. However, he tells how he had the good fortune to be left with United after he and his brother (at his mother s prompting) tossed a coin to see which of them would support City or United - his brother won and thus supported City. Little did Brendon know that losing that toss was a supremely life-changing event - the beginning of a lifetime s devotion to his beloved club, and his fascination with Best, Law and Charlton. Indeed, watching these titans play at Old Trafford became the highlight of his week as he stood on the Stretford End in the company of his dear mother. It was a chance to escape into a wonderland of joy, peace and happiness, seeing his idols performing miracles in the flesh. To him, they embodied all that was good about life and humanity. It made him want to go out to play for hour after hour with his mates, seeking to emulate their feats in the street, park, school playground or whatever space they could find to play the beautiful game. Perhaps you, too, have similar memories. I know I do, and they came flooding back in wave after wave as I turned the pages of this splendid tome.
So what is it about George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton that makes a sixty-something retiree want to spend a considerable amount of his time writing about them, when many other folk of the same age are happy to sit by the fire in slippers, whiling away the hours? May I remind you that that all three players finished playing together over 40 years ago, but they still have a huge impact on both Brendon s life as well as countless others? I think part of the answer lies in their personality, the way they expressed themselves as footballers in a unique way. All three were enthralling to watch: charismatic, magnetic and magisterial. In short, they encapsulate everything that was good about football in the 60s - the icing on the cake of a truly extraordinary epoch.
In this book, Brendon McGuire will take you back, once again, to your childhood days of outdoor life, fun, play, joy, excitement, friends, music, pleasure and contentment against a milieu of football and society in the 1960s. It also has the added bonus of being a crash course (if you need one), on the history of Manchester United Football Club. You will also hear the important voices of players who were actually at the club when these players were at their peak. It is certainly an outstanding and distinctive addition to the plethora of literature that already exists about the swashbuckling trinity, the sublime, compelling, incomparable: Best, Law and Charlton.

Dr Tony Whelan,
Manchester United FC, Academy Programme Advisor
Aon Training Complex
Manchester
February 2019
Introduction
P ROBABLY like every other youngster who saw George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton perform, I grew up hoping to emulate their brilliance without ever achieving it. But also, through watching them week in, week out, I saw three very different types of person I might become, even if I could never hope to match their football ability. The composure and sportsmanship of Charlton, an icon for all that was good in the game and in life, I perceived, was my ideal choice. Law was the scarier option, someone I didn t think I wanted to be like or could even comprehend: blond-haired, sharp-featured, Viking-like with a volcanic temper that could erupt at any moment, but who also mesmerised me. George Best was someone who I maybe wanted to be like when I got older. His was a world that I could never have dreamed about entering as a child. It took me a long time to realise that, actually, being like George Best could be a whole load of fun, but in the 60s, as a young boy, I only saw the genius play, the long hair and the cool clothes. It was enough just to stand in the Stretford End and admire him. It still is.
This book has distinct chapters pinpointing the achievements of these revered legends: Best, Law and Charlton. However, the United Trinity did not just suddenly arrive at Manchester United as some sort of golden gift to a Manchester public, coming out of the austere, impoverished 1950s. The book tells the back-story, involving the legacy of the Busby Babes, the devastating Munich air crash and a scarlet thread of talent development that links the generations. By the early 1960s, Manchester was a city that was exploding with music, fashion and creativity. Then, enter a skinny, dark-haired boy from Belfast who wasn t too sure about Manchester or the club when he first arrived. Next, there s a brilliant goalscorer who was longing to exit Italian football and sign for Manchester United. There is, too, a survivor from the horrors of Munich in 1958, who went on to become the enduring symbol of English football in a career spanning three decades. They all had something rather special in common: they were all European Footballers of the Year in the 1960s, and they all played together in the same Manchester United team. Normal? Don t even go there.
I was raised in a loving ho